Video: Hennessey VR1200 Goes 220 MPH On 85 MPH Texas Highway

America still doesn’t have its own Autobahn, but we are getting closer with this week’s opening of a highway in Texas with an 85 mph speed limit. As a toll road, Texas hopes it will attract those who put a premium on their time. The new highway will use a state-of-the-art tolling system, one that state officials thought needed to be tested before opening the road to the public.

Enter the owner of Hennessey Performance Engineering, John Hennessey, who offered his services to his home state of Texas. In order to properly test the state’s new tolling system, Hennessey brought along his 1,226 horsepower VR1200 coupe, which he used to attain a speed of over 220 mph on the nation’s newest, and fastest, highway.

For those not in the know, the Hennessey VR1200 coupe is based on the Cadillac CTS-V coupe. But gone is the LSA engine GM gave its luxury coupe, and in its place is a 7.0 liter, twin-turbo nightmare cranking 1,226 horsepower and 1,109 ft-lbs of torque. With Texas officials on hand, Hennessey used this mighty amount of horsepower to blast through the new tolling system at around 180 mph, before topping out at 220.5 mph.

Yes, the tolling system worked, and so did a Texas State Trooper’s radar gun. The cops gave Hennessey a fake ticket for going 220 in an 85, and everybody was all smiles as they got ready for the grand opening of this new high-speed stretch of road between San Antonio and Austin. Too bad the rest of us can’t get away with such shenanigans.

If you could go as fast as you wanted on a Texas highway, would it be in a Hennessey car? Or something even faster?